As of 2020, about 54% of Americans had life insurance coverage, a small increase from the previous years. Life insurance helps protect your dependents in the event of your untimely death. It helps ensure your family’s financial security, should you pass on to the next life.
The notion that life insurance is only for young people is ill-conceived. It’s never too late to get life insurance, even when you’re on the final stretch. That’s right, even senior citizens can get life insurance despite their advanced age.
This begs the question, how can the elderly find affordable life insurance for seniors? With so many options, finding the best insurance option when you’re old can be a huge challenge. Not to mention the hefty premiums that make it seem like it’s not worth it.
In today’s post, we’ll be looking at how senior citizens can get the best life insurance policy without breaking the bank. Let’s get straight into it.
Choose the Right Type of Life Insurance
Before you buy life insurance, it’s important to understand the types of life insurance that exist today. That way, you can pick the right one for your particular situation.
Life insurance boils down into two main types, term, and permanent life insurance. Let’s look at each of them briefly.
Term life insurance: Term life insurance is a type of life insurance where you buy the policy for a specific period. Term life insurance lets you pick how long you want your life insurance policy to last. Typical term life insurance policies last 10 to 30 years, but you can extend coverage within certain limits.
Permanent Life Insurance: Permanent life insurance is a type of life insurance that lasts for life. That means you’ll continue paying for life insurance until the day you pass away. There are two types of permanent life insurance, namely:
Whole life insurance: With this life insurance, you pay a set premium for as long as you’re alive, but you can cancel the policy anytime you wish. It’s an excellent way to build wealth because you get a cash payout when you opt out of the policy.
Universal life insurance- With universal life insurance, you can change the premium amount depending on how you want to manage the policy. It’s super flexible to accommodate your health and financial situation.
Permanent life insurance is the best option for senior citizens. That’s because, with term life insurance, it’s more of a hit or miss since you never really know when it’s your time.
Consider Your Current Health
Most, if not all, life insurance companies will assess your health before granting you coverage. They will therefore conduct a physical exam and ask you a few medical questions. The healthier you are, the lower the insurance premiums you’ll have to pay.
Steer clear of insurance providers that don’t do a physical exam before determining your premium. This is a tactic to upsell you, and you might end up paying a lot more than you should. A physical exam justifies the insurance premium amount the insurer quotes for you.
It’s also worth noting that most insurance providers correlate health with age. The older you are, the more unhealthy you’re likely to be. However, this may not hold true for all cases.
Consider Their Underwriting Process
Underwriting is the process where the insurance provider determines your viability for the policy. It also helps determine how much you’ll pay in premiums and the duration of the policy. It examines the risk of granting you the policy and whether you qualify for it.
Like with the physical exam, stay away from insurance providers that breeze through the underwriting process. This shows that the insurance provider is only keen on making money and has little regard for your policy. This sort of unscrupulousness will spill over into the payout process.
Note that different insurance providers have different underwriting processes. If one provider declines your application, you can always settle for another. In fact, it’s a good idea to explore your options before settling on an insurance provider.
Your Budget
Your budget is one of the most crucial factors you should look at when picking life insurance for seniors. It’s no secret that most senior citizens can’t get up to go to work. This means most of them are living off of their retirement benefits.
That said, it’s crucial that you find an insurance policy that fits your budget. However, this doesn’t mean you should get the cheapest life insurance policy you can find. Doing so will only work to your detriment.
Our best advice about affordable life insurance is to go with what your pockets can afford. This means finding an insurance policy that isn’t too cheap or too expensive. Skimping on your life insurance will only hurt your payouts, but spending too much on them will hurt you financially.
Explore your options and find an insurance policy that matches your budget. You can try buying life insurance online so you can get almost instant estimates. A good place to start is https://shelterbay.ca/non-medical-life-insurance/, which is popular for giving bang for the buck.
The Types of Riders
Riders are special add-ons that you can have on top of our insurance policy. These riders are completely optional but are worth a shot. Some common types of riders include family income benefits, accidental death, and guaranteed insurability to name a few.
Some riders are only particular to a specific type of insurance policy. However, not all insurance providers offer riders and these riders aren’t always the same across the board. Finding an insurance provider that offers riders isn’t a must, but it’s always nice to have the option.
Is Life Insurance for Seniors Worth It?
From a logical standpoint, getting life insurance while old seems a bit counterintuitive. Of what use is life insurance when you’re probably not going to live for so long? A fair argument, but an invalid one nonetheless.
If you’re still on the fence about getting life insurance because you think you’re too old, here are a couple of reasons why you should.
People Are Living Longer
Although life expectancy has slightly declined from a few years, these days, people are living much longer than ever. This is all thanks to advancements in medicine and technological advancements to aid the same. What’s more, more people are adopting healthier lifestyles and companies are following suit to meet their demands.
Back in the day, senior citizens only made financial arrangements until they hit the age of 65. These days, they make a budget up to their late 70s or early 80s. If your reason for not taking life insurance is because you won’t live enough, you might want to rethink your decision.
It Caters for Medical Debt
One positive side about dying of old age is you don’t have to worry about the huge medical debt you accrued during your hospital stay. However, this means you’ll leave a huge financial burden on your family and dependents.
With medical costs rising every day, you certainly don’t want to burden your dependents with a huge medical debt. Life insurance will provide enough to pay for any medical expenses and to take care of your dependents when you’re gone.
If you need to cushion your dependents from medical debt, consider taking out an affordable life insurance policy. Additionally, if you’re having any difficulties with your insurance, you can get help with your claims for trauma insurance from Curo and get the medical help that you need.
To Solve Mortgage Debt
Many individuals carry their mortgage debt to their retirement years, especially if they take out a mortgage on their second home. Remember, the longer the mortgage stays, the more interest fees it accrues.
If you’re in your retirement age with mortgage debt, you shouldn’t even think twice about getting life insurance. In the event of your untimely death, the insurance payout will help settle the debt. This will shield your family and loved ones from incurring the cost of paying your mortgage.
Remember, if you fail to fulfill the mortgage, the lender might have to foreclose the home. This could leave some of your family members stranded with no place to call home.
To Finance Your Second Family
It’s a dream come true when your kids get kids and you finally have some to call your grandpa or grandma. However, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows with grandparenting. That’s because some grandparents also have to raise the kids and their grandkids.
Approximately 6% of grandchildren live with their grandparents. If this describes your situation, then you’re raising a second family. Life insurance helps ensure that your second family has adequate financial protection should you pass away.
Finding Affordable Life Insurance for Seniors Made Easy
Finding affordable life insurance for seniors should be a cakewalk with the information above. Be sure to explore all your options and settle for the best life insurance policy for your specific situation. Remember, make sure you ask about estimates to know whether the policy is right for your financial situation.
Don’t forget to check out the other posts on the site for more informative reads like this.
